Nothing beats cooking home grown vegetables, and the humble carrot is a particular favourite, says Cecilia Cran

What to grow: I’ve noticed a growing trend (pardon the pun!), among friends over the last few months – everyone is increasingly keen to understand more about vegetable growing. So this month that’s what I’m starting to think about, with a spotlight on carrots specifically.

Carrots are one of the easiest and most rewarding vegetables to grow from seed. Call me a garden geek, but I cannot tell you the joy I get when I pull up my carrots and make a meal from scratch using them.

Carrots are perfect for growing in containers or directly in the ground and they take up very little space, as they grow vertically. There are a whole host of varieties to choose from – they come in all colours, shapes and sizes, so explore which would work best for your growing space. I suggest you also check the seed packet, which will state whether it is an ‘early’ or ‘maincrop’ variety and will indicate when best to sow, so you can carefully plan out your garden month by month.

Although the main outdoor sowing season starts around April, running to the beginning of July, early varieties can be sown in late February/early March under protective cloches or covered with horticultural fleece.

How to grow: To begin, choose where you will be sowing your carrots – I will be putting mine directly into the ground. Carrots need light and prefer to be grown in fertile, well-drained soil, so select a spot that has maximum sunlight.

Before getting your seeds in the ground, dig over the area where you plan to grow them, remove weeds, stones, debris and any other plants or old roots from last season. When you have done this, use your hand or the edge of your trowel to create a seed drill (small, shallow trench), around 1cm-2cm deep. Then carefully place seeds along the drill, sowing them thinly, you should look to try and space the seeds around 5cm-8cm apart.

Once this is done, cover the seeds with soil mixed with some peat-free compost and gently press the soil down to ensure the seeds have made contact with the soil, so they will be able to access the nutrients they need to germinate. Water the seeds well when you first plant them, but be careful not to over-water, as you do not want the seeds to rot.

Cover with simple horticultural fleece to protect them from the elements and sit back and wait patiently. Early varieties will take around 10-12 weeks to grow fully and maincrop carrots slightly longer, around 12-16 weeks.

Green escape: Lister Gardens. Blink and you may miss this little green haven. Tucked away on Upper Road, just a short walk from Plaistow tube station, this slice of Newham nature is small, but perfectly formed. As you approach the gardens, you’re welcomed by impressive gates, which were designed especially for the park. They host a lovely decoration – painted a dark green and adorned with lots of iron foliage.

Despite the size of the space, it has been well designed and a lot has been packed in – ornamental flower beds, lush shrubs and bushes of foliage, along with a little forest of bamboo – all beautifully maintained and very well managed. The park also houses a great little kids play area and a basketball court that seems to attract a steady stream of enthusiastic players. There are also some benches to sit and relax on.

As I find with so many of our best loved spaces in the capital, there is some interesting history to Lister Gardens. The garden owes its name to Lord Joseph Lister, who revolutionised modern day surgery by introducing antiseptic procedures into our hospitals. The medical pioneer was born at Upton House that originally stood between Lancaster Road and Upton Lane.

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